She pushed him to go to church “a lot,” get a job, do well in school and become an Eagle Scout.

“She, like a lot of parents back then, she wasn’t sure how to make sure I did it. She had this nice yardstick. And she had no trouble using it,” he said.

Just how she used it is unclear. Asked at his three-minute, post-speech press conference, Scott twice declined to say if his mother used it to administer corporal punishment or if he believes in corporal punishment.

“I know how my mom raised me and I loved my mom and I wouldn’t change anything about how my mom took care of me,” he said. “I wouldn’t change anything about what my mom did.”